EU members’ views of the current Brexit negotiations

Media outlets across the EU continue to discuss various issues related to the UK’s exit from the EU. Independent.co.uk reports that European Commission Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier has said, he is hopeful that Britain and the EU will reach an agreement on sufficient progress on Brexit talks within “the next few days”. Mr Barnier told an EU conference in Tallinn that the “moment of truth” was approaching for Britain’s exit talks and that “real, sufficient progress” was in sight. “I do hope in the next few days we will come up with an agreement on principles and a real agreement”, he said. “And that will allow me to recommend the opening up of the next two phases of negotiations, first of all on the transition period and then on the future relationship”, Mr Barnier further stressed; also quoted by independent.co.uk.

Estonia’s Vikerraadio reports that Mr Barnier also emphasised that protecting the interests of the European citizens is the bloc’s primary task. However, he did not comment on Prime Minister May’s readiness to give the EU £40 billion to move the talks forward again, points out Vikerraadio. The Financial Times reports Prime Minister May will be told next month by the EU, that she will have to legislate to extend Brussels’ powers in Britain during a Brexit transition period; a move likely to anger Eurosceptic Tory MPs, points out the British daily.

Elsevier.nl quotes MEP Guy Verhofstadt, saying in an interview granted to the Politico website, that the rights of EU citizens in the UK do not receive enough attention during the Brexit talks. The UK needs to present a proposal regarding the Brexit bill before 4 December. Mr Verhofstadt is worried that, within a few weeks, no solution will be found for the rights of EU citizens. He believes the British parliament deliberately delays decisions about EU citizens’ rights to reach a more favourable agreement about the divorce bill.

President Juncker is more optimistic about the situation. He is confident that enough progress will be made within one week, to start the talks on a trade agreement between the UK and the EU, adds elsevier.nl.

Several outlets also continue to pay special attention to the Irish border issue. Czech Republic’s Mladá fronta DNES and E15 underline, that this specific matter remains one of the biggest obstacles of the Brexit talks. Prime Minister May’s spokesman has acknowledged that “more work” needs to be done on the future of the Irish border ahead of next month’s summit in Brussels, The Irish Times reports. The British spokesman also declined to comment on Labour MP Kate Hoey’s suggestion that Ireland would have to pay for any border which emerge after Brexit. “If it ends up with a no deal, we’re not the ones who are going to be putting up the physical border” Ms Hoey told BBC, as quoted by The Irish Times. The Irish newspaper adds that former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain criticised Ms Hoey’s comments, adding that the only way to prevent a return to the borders of the past was for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to remain in the customs union and the single market.

Another item of independent.co.uk reads that Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney underlined, that EU leaders have assured him that Brexit talks will not progress to the next stage, unless the UK gives greater assurances over the Irish border. The British website and observator.pt also say that Mr Coveney stressed, that his country did not need to use its veto as an EU Member State to block progress in talks because other European countries are in “complete solidarity” with Dublin over the issue.

In an analysis article published in Denmark’s Information, Mette Rodgers writes that the crisis risks weakening Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s authority in the Brexit negotiations. Meanwhile, Kristeligt Dagblad’s Bjarne Nørum notes that the British are outraged after the Director-General for Education and Culture in the European Commission, Martine Reicherts, wrote in a letter that Britain will not be able to compete in the European Capitals of Culture programme.

Among the reactions published today, Björn Finke stresses, in an opinion piece for Süddeutsche Zeitung, that Brexit “overshadows everything”. He refers to British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark, whose presentation of the British government’s new industrial strategy was interrupted by questions on his view on Brexit. Despite the government’s efforts, no strategy can alleviate the fears of the consequences of Brexit, Mr Finke points out, arguing that a soft Brexit would be the best strategy. Uncertainty over the future relationship with the EU has already led to a drop in investments in the UK, he also highlights.

In a Daily Express commentary, Ross Clark believes that the EU would be harmed more by a no-deal Brexit than the UK because Britain “would have little trouble in signing new trade deals with countries outside Europe”. Mr Clark also considers that “sooner or later the EU is going to sit down and do those trade negotiations anyway because there is too much money resting on them”.

Writing in The Guardian, Polly Toynbee comments that the Irish border question is not a “minor irritation” in the Brexit process. According to her, it could become such a large issue, that it could turn the UK public against Brexit. She believes that Dublin is right not to allow the issue of the border to slip to the next stage of negotiations. Mario Danneels underlines, in a De Standaard opinion piece, that nobody wants a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, once the UK has withdrawn from the EU, this border becomes an external EU border. Mr Danneels says that UK Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis thought Ireland would be a docile partner in this endeavour. However, Mr Davis was wrong, stresses the author. According to him, it is unlikely a solution will be found in the short term.